Reader friends, I have some terrible awful no good very bad news: I hafta take a break from blogging.

Ah, this is killing me. I feel like I’m cutting off my right arm! Which wouldn’t ACTUALLY kill me, but it would hurt a lot. Just like writing this post!

Wait what why!?

The thing is, I have spondyloarthritis + complications, and my latest flare up has lasted since February. I’ve actually been unable to work at my beloved library job since the beginning of the year. We had to postpone a vacation (and eat some of the costs), which was a really stressful decision.

In fact, we had no choice to follow suit with several BIG LIFE PLANS. FOR AN OBVIOUSLY DISTRESSING EXAMPLE!!!!: I had to stop eating sugar and eat veggies instead, guys. That was like…cutting off my left arm. I’m armless!!!

Er, anyway! Everything is kind of hanging in limbo until I recover, and unfortunately right now deadlines are my #1 stress-enemy. Rehabbing and doctor visits mean less blogging time and I seem to keep ending up in a packed, stressful schedule. Staring at screens also gives me migraines, if I’m stressed out, so that has been a problem lately. And all of this contributes to insomnia. Do I sound like a hypochondriac to you because I’m starting to wonder if I NEED A THERAPIST FOR THAT TOO

So, er, anyway again! This just sucks but I have to put health first. *ADULTING SIGH* Soooo sorry to bail on you like this guys

What All This Means:

I will be largely inactive on WordPress. However, if you are on Goodreads, I WILL BE STALKING YOU!

Alternatively, if you spurn Goodreads, I’ll join your email list. I don’t want to lose track of you guys because you’re awesome and brilliant and make me laugh and keep my tbr stacked with amazing books.

I have a few ARCs that I promised to review, so I’ll finish those off on Goodreads, but other than that, I’m planning to keep quiet for a while.

The Good News

Just in case you’re actually starting to worry about me, seriously you’re soooo sweet, but no need! My husband and I are both Christians and we’re definitely seeing the blessings in our situation. Several good doctors have given us amazingly helpful physical and mental health info. Small example: the diet changes suggested by one revealed a ton of food allergies and even helped me lose a few pounds!

So anyway, don’t worry ’bout me! I’ll get back on track and we’ll be fine! I think I’ve taken up enough of your time now so God bless and, um…GODSPEED!?!? Bloggers need speed, right?! Lol

Christy

]]>https://christyluisreviews.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/thats-all-she-wrote-health-hiatus-grumpy-face/feed/36christyluisWE tv GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY Stalk GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY Shadow’s Edge (Night Angel #2) by Brent Weeks ~ Video Review & Discussionhttps://christyluisreviews.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/shadows-edge-night-angel-2-by-brent-weeks-video-review-discussion/
https://christyluisreviews.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/shadows-edge-night-angel-2-by-brent-weeks-video-review-discussion/#commentsSun, 14 May 2017 16:56:45 +0000http://christyluisreviews.wordpress.com/?p=6510]]>Hey guys! Normally I write book reviews, but sometimes I’ll have such strong feelings about a book that the review ends up being all CAP LOCKS and lols and 🤔 🤓 🤣; in cases like that (which is what happened with my review of Shadow’s Edge ((Night Angel #2)) by Brent Weeks), it’s just easier to talk about it instead of translate my feelings to typeface. I would love to know what you think- about the video, about the book, about how messy my book shelves look, anything! I hope you enjoy!
]]>https://christyluisreviews.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/shadows-edge-night-angel-2-by-brent-weeks-video-review-discussion/feed/19Shadow'sEdgechristyluisWaiting on Wednesday #9: Roar by Cora Carmackhttps://christyluisreviews.wordpress.com/2017/05/10/waiting-on-wednesday-9-roar-by-cora-carmack/
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“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that was hosted by Breaking the Spine to spotlight exciting upcoming titles.

2017 promises several interesting ya speculative releases, one of which is Roar by Cora Carmack. The premise sounds awesome and I really enjoyed the preview excerpt in Buzz Books! *crossing fingers* that we can judge the book by its fabulous cover!

Goodreads Description

In a land ruled and shaped by violent magical storms, power lies with those who control them.

Aurora Pavan comes from one of the oldest Stormling families in existence. Long ago, the ungifted pledged fealty and service to her family in exchange for safe haven, and a kingdom was carved out from the wildlands and sustained by magic capable of repelling the world’s deadliest foes. As the sole heir of Pavan, Aurora’s been groomed to be the perfect queen. She’s intelligent and brave and honorable. But she’s yet to show any trace of the magic she’ll need to protect her people.

To keep her secret and save her crown, Aurora’s mother arranges for her to marry a dark and brooding Stormling prince from another kingdom. At first, the prince seems like the perfect solution to all her problems. He’ll guarantee her spot as the next queen and be the champion her people need to remain safe. But the more secrets Aurora uncovers about him, the more a future with him frightens her. When she dons a disguise and sneaks out of the palace one night to spy on him, she stumbles upon a black market dealing in the very thing she lacks—storm magic. And the people selling it? They’re not Stormlings. They’re storm hunters.

Legend says that her ancestors first gained their magic by facing a storm and stealing part of its essence. And when a handsome young storm hunter reveals he was born without magic, but possesses it now, Aurora realizes there’s a third option for her future besides ruin or marriage.

She might not have magic now, but she can steal it if she’s brave enough.

Challenge a tempest. Survive it. And you become its master. Roar is ya high fantasy authored by Cora Carmack. Hardcover, 384 pages. Expected publication: June 13th 2017 by Tor Teen.

It took me a few weeks to come to terms with this novel, but I finally did and this is what I decided: despite the hype about Station Eleven, or perhaps because of the hype, the book turned out to be a huge disappointment for me.

About :

It starts off brilliantly with an actor’s onstage death that, while seeming both tragic and horrible to the cast and fans, also feels right—this is an elderly actor, surrounded by his favorite people, doing his favorite thing amidst the glorious fanfare of playing King Lear, dying a completely natural death. Sad, but, in a sense, also normal and even enviable. The way a person wants to die. (This scene made me want to go pick up King Lear, immediately, which is a bonus. I love being inspired to read classics by reading modern books.)

Then, as the acting cast meets afterwards in a bar to take in the death of their lead, we get this line:

Of all of them there at the bar that night, the bartender was the one who survived the longest. He died three weeks later on a road out of the city.”

Whoa, what!? This compelling line introduces the coming apocalypse—which, we soon learn, will be in the form of an epidemic that causes collapse of human civilization. The actor’s death is indeed a happy mercy in comparison. The perfect prose sets up the drama of this revelation perfectly.

Unfortunately, the prose is the only thing I enjoyed about the rest of the book. My interest died fairly soon after that amazing intro, after which we find ourselves following a cast of narrators connected in distant and basically meaningless ways. The revelations about those character connections are supposed to somehow give the novel structure, but the strategy doesn’t really work. It just reads like a bunch of character sketches set against a relatively static “post-apocalyptic” background. We see the fall of humanity through the eyes of these characters, which is sort of interesting, but…

Thoughts :

For me, two problems killed the character-driven premise of “examining the individual and collective human response to apocalypse.”

First of all,the cast is boring, completely average and largely unchanging. These are normal people who make huge mistakes, but never redeem themselves. The two characters who do change only do so in flashbacks: the actor, imo the least sympathetic character, and the vaguely-Protestant-sounding cult leader. Although Mandel attempts to give the story structure by following the arcs of the actor and the cult leader, both are snoozeworthy. I’ve read so much more interesting and illuminating portrayals of religious nutsos (see Hazel Motes in Wiseblood or St. John Rivers in Jane Eyre or even Kelsier in Mistborn!), so this kind of religious stereotype completely bores me.

Second, Mandel wrote Station Eleven almost entirely from the viewpoint of non-religious peoples of European descent. A little more diversity would have gone a long way toward creating a more compelling cast. The lack of sane religious people in particular seems like an odd disparity in a post-apocalyptic population. So, in regards to religious people, either: (1) ALL of them are nuts; (2) ALL the sane ones died already; or (3) ALL the sane ones were raptured!

‘What about the post-apocalyptic setting?’ you may be wondering. Well…it’s largely static, like the characters, unfortunately. [Highlight to view SPOILER:After the initial fall, we just see everything collapse again and again through the eyes of the cast, and that’s where it stays. Nothing else happens, no clues about the future. Maybe that’s what Mandel is saying: the future remains static forever. I guess you could interpret it that way, but it’s boring and relatively hopeless and in conjunction with everything else I didn’t like about this story? MEH.]

To end on a high point: several members of the cast belong to a troupe of Shakespearean actors traveling through the wasteland, and Mandel uses them to share the redeeming power of story. I enjoyed that theme, even if it is apparently the exclusive source of meaning and hope characters find in the world of this novel (which is just silly. I love my books, but I don’t base my identity and hope in them, and I certainly wouldn’t do so in the case of an apocalypse. That, in addition to the apparent Theophobia??, made it difficult for me to find myself anywhere in this novel). Still, imaginary bonus points for the lit love.

Overall :

Dull, dull, dull. I’ve read literary fiction that accomplishes all of this with far greater success, so I really don’t understand why people loved this one. There’s just such better stuff out there. For a much more compelling character-driven and literary post-apocalyptic novel, I would recommend Arslan by M. J. Engh. Happily, I just reviewed it two days ago and it’s fresh enough that I’ll guarantee a much more thoughtful reading experience than Station Eleven can provide. Still not much plot, but the characters are way more interesting PLUS they’re unreliable narrators, which, I mean, bonus points, right?

So I gave Station Eleven 1 star for the prose, 1 star for the terrific intro and a half a star for a half-way decent cast. But I rounded down because I was so disappointed.

2.5/5 STARS

Recommended To:

If you super-love post-apocalyptic fiction, you might still enjoy Station Eleven, especially since it’s so mainstream and popular now. It will likely come up in conversations about literary sci-fi, and sometimes it’s just fun to take part in a popular sci-fi fandom. My library is giving away free copies of it this year for the Big Read, which is really a big deal for a science fiction novel!

Station Eleven is adult post-apocalyptic science fiction authored by Emily St. John Mandel and published September 9th 2014 by Knopf. Hardcover, 336 pages. The opinions I share are completely my own and in no way compensated for by publishers or authors.

]]>https://christyluisreviews.wordpress.com/2017/05/07/station-eleven-by-emily-st-john-mandel/feed/17Station ElevenchristyluisArslan by M.J. Engh and Its Silencing of the Womanhttps://christyluisreviews.wordpress.com/2017/05/05/arslan-by-m-j-engh-and-its-silencing-of-the-woman/
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Humanity was a plague. Locustlike, we ripped holes in the world’s fabric.

About :

Wow. What to say about this book. Well, it’s all about Arslan, a young Asian general from the European-created state of Turkistan, who takes over the world’s military powers without firing a single shot. His methods and reasons remain a mystery from most of the world, but he gradually reveals his vision to two men in small town Illinois, where the modern conqueror makes his capital.

Arslan was just republished by Open Road Integrated Media last month, and that’s how I heard of it, but it was originally published in 1976 to much critical acclaim. Being a fan of Dystopias and occasionally tempted by SF classics of the 70s-80s, I couldn’t resist a classic of the subgenre coming in at only 288 pages. I’m glad I got the chance to read it.

Thoughts :

Two very different, unreliable and extremely well-realized characters narrate the story, telling us details of humanity’s deterioration and of Arslan, the man causing said deterioration. Franklin Bond is a Christian conservative and school principle in the small, rural town where Arslan appears, and he cares very much for all under his responsibility. Therefore, he risks the wrath of the town by enforcing the hated general’s every rule, having quickly determined that a resistance would only survive its initial stages if he kept it a secret from Arslan; he’s all action and no talk. He gets most of the page time, since he helps run everything from food distribution, to the resistance, to the town government itself.

The other narrator, Hunt, is one of Franklin Bond’s sixth graders and only twelve years old when Arslan takes him as a sex slave. Over the course of the book, Hunt grows in and out of physical captivity and learns to play both sides of the conflict over Arslan, whichever offers him the best chance of survival. Though clearly a victim, Hunt’s pretentiousness and love of literature—his ability, as he grows, to express his anguish through poetry, and his pride, which prevents him from addressing it in any other way—make him a strong, complex narrator of indeterminate sexuality whose reactions defy prediction. His quotes from Milton express his situation particularly well:

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”

Hunt’s perspective is just…I had to take breaks from reading it. Anguished is probably the best word for it. Cynical, yes, but also constantly flirting with death of all kinds. It’s awful and beautiful. Hunt’s perspective gets all the psychological depth of Franklin’s perspective plus the benefit of literary allusion and a poetic lens. I don’t normally swear, but literally the only word that can properly express Hunt’s perspective is “mind-effery” lol But it is through Hunt’s perspective that we get the clearest and most in-depth ruminations about Arslan—since Hunt is unable to form a coherent picture of himself, he puts all his energy into defining Arslan to himself and to readers in observations such as the one below:

Confronted unignorably with a phrase he was unsure of, [Arslan] would turn it back, with a straight face, in question, threat, or provocation, to elicit more data. I thought, too, that one reason for his inscrutable looks, his reluctance to show surprise or annoyance or enthusiasm, was a simple fear of betraying misunderstanding by an inappropriate reaction.”

I can’t share anything about Arslan without spoiling the plot, since it relies very much on revelations about his purpose and actions. Although the details of his conquest ultimately feel inadequate and somewhat disappointing, even those aren’t really the focus of this novel—Arslan himself is. And his plan for the world is what makes the novel so interesting. [Highlight to view SPOILERS: Arslan’s concerns seem largely environmental. “To save the world from mankind.” “But man, man is too strong. He fouls and exhausts too rapidly, and nothing checks him for long. There is only one end for such a species: extinction.”].

But since we can’t get into those details, let’s talk instead about the fascinating and disturbing silence of the women portrayed in Arslan. In the beginning, women are dolls.

I made Luella stay inside, but I stood out on the front steps to watch…I wasn’t about to crawl into a hole.”

I don’t think Franklin Bond meant to make this sound like Luella was crawling into a hole—rather, he was trying to show defiance against the army invading his town. Still, why “make” her stay inside? The general treatment of women is degrading in Arslan, even before the “Dystopian” part happens. Halfway through the book, women become a tool of the enemy (through no fault of their own) or they have simply died of housework.

I constantly wondered about the lack of female presence and agency in Arslan, as I read. Thus it shocked me to find out that M. J. Engh is a woman. BECAUSE ONLY MEN CAN BE SEXIST, RIGHT?! lol. Apparently I’m just sexist like that Anyway, after further consideration, I found more than meets the eye in the “silence of the women.” It has been argued—successfully, I think—that Engh may have been commenting on the male view of gender roles during the 1970s. It’s hard to say for sure, since this was actually published in the 70s, and not in retrospect, but my personal opinion is that the female silence itself tells of “her” experience. Perhaps their conspicuous silence suggests, “it’s obviously all drudgery and degradation, so much so that nobody was listening to us.” Or perhaps Engh was just trying to appeal to the male reader of the 1970s-80s. That’s also a possibility. At the very least, complete immersion in the unreliable male perspectives undeniably provides food for thought.

Overall :

Full of stunning insights into humanity—or at least into the male half of it, lol. Although the plot falls short in terms of feasibility, the unreliable and fascinating character narratives by far make up for that. I think I would need to read Arslan several more times before I came away with a clear, full picture of Engh’s intent. And Engh’s riveting prose, full to the brim with poetic and historical allusions, gives Arslan a depth that a lesser writer could never have accomplished.

Characters: 5/5Writing: 5/5
Worldbuilding: 3/5
Plot: 2/5

3.75/5 Stars

Arslan is adult Dystopian fiction authored by M.J. Engh and originally published in 1976. Digitally republished on 18 Apr 18, 2017 by Open Road Integrated Media.

Huge thanks to M. J. Engh, Open Road Integrated Media and Netgalley for this free eARC. The opinions I share are completely my own and in no way compensated for by publishers or authors.

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that was hosted by Breaking the Spine to spotlight exciting upcoming titles.

Somehow I managed to entirely miss out on Leckie’s Ancillary series, despite the buzz, so I was really excited to hear about her upcoming release, Provenance! It sounds like it might be part of a new cycle where I can jump in and be part of the fun.

Goodreads Description

Following her record-breaking debut trilogy, Ann Leckie, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke and Locus Awards, returns with an enthralling new novel of power, theft, privilege and birthright.

A power-driven young woman has just one chance to secure the status she craves and regain priceless lost artifacts prized by her people. She must free their thief from a prison planet from which no one has ever returned.

Ingray and her charge will return to her home world to find their planet in political turmoil, at the heart of an escalating interstellar conflict. Together, they must make a new plan to salvage Ingray’s future, her family, and her world, before they are lost to her for good. Provenance is adult sci-fi by Anne Leckie. Expected publication: September 26th 2017 by Orbit.

Mr. Utterson is the respectable sort of gentlemen lawyer who reserves judgement on his friends.

‘I incline to Cain’s heresy,’ he used to say quaintly. ‘I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.’”

But when his mild-mannered friend-about-town, the beloved Dr. Jekyll, seems to have fallen under an evil man’s influence—one Mr. Edward Hyde—even the reserved lawyer Utterson feels the need to check in. But though Dr. Jekyll assures everyone that all is well with him and Hyde, the lawyer watches his friend’s deterioration and increasing secrecy with grave concern…The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is classic adult horror authored by Robert Louis Stevenson and originally published in 1886.

Everyone probably knows the basic happenings of this famous short story, but my post will take the form more of “discussion” and less of a “review,” so if you want to avoid spoilers about the specifics, you might want to skip the rest. My statute of limitations on spoilers ended at “one century old” Lol You could also go read the story right now (it’s short and free on Kindle!) and come back when you’re finished. Otherwise, read on, reader, at your own peril *evil cackle*

Thoughts (Spoilers Ahead):

We read the “strange case” through the eyes of Mr. Utterson. Slowly, occasionally ponderously, but always in that charming 19th century way, he tells us of a brutal murder committed by Mr. Hyde, who then disappears without a trace. He describes Dr. Jekyll’s subsequent deteriorations and disappearance. And, finally, through heavy use of the “confessional missive” trope so popular during this time, he learns—and we learn—the details of Dr. Jekyll’s demise.

In fact, Dr. Jekyll’s own letter tells the full story. He describes his life as,

nine-tenths a life of effort, virtue and self-control.”

But that remaining 1/10th of “badness” manifests as Mr. Edward Hyde, a degenerate through whom Dr. Jekyll allows his baser instincts to rule and be separate from his “good” self. I say “allows” because he must take a potion to induce his transformation into Hyde…at least, in the beginning. But when he transforms, Mr. Hyde runs wild, spending himself in moral filth. Jekyll feels no fear or disgust in looking at his baser nature, as others do. For,

This, too, was myself.”

At least, he feels that way…in the beginning.

As time wears on and Jekyll finds himself relaxing into and enjoying the freedom of Hyde’s reign, he suddenly begins changing into Hyde—without taking the potion.

Uh oh.

Under this strain of continually impending doom and by the sleeplessness…I became, in my own person, a creature eaten up and emptied by fever, languidly weak both in body and mind, and solely occupied by one thought: the horror of my other self.”

That line contains all the real horror of the situation, to me. He knows what’s coming, and he dreads it, but he can’t stop it anymore. His repeated choice to transform has finally become his chosen status quo. A habit.

Stevenson’s tale is more than a moralistic tale, of course. It’s a psychological discussion about the struggles inherent in human nature. It might even be a metaphor for something specific beyond a “habit of being,” such as a cocaine/opium/laudanum habit (Jekyll takes a potion to become his “bad self,” after all) or some other vice. I’m not familiar enough with Stevenson’s life to know what he might be talking about lol

And of course it’s a horror story. I think the horror comes from the knowledge that Dr. Jekyll’s choice belongs to all of us: this is every man’s and every woman’s choice. We can all choose to free our baser instincts when we think we can get away with it and avoid besmirching our “good” selves. But soon, we lose the choice—soon it comes alive and chooses for us.

*shiver*

Anyway, that’s what I thought. Have you read this one or seen one of the many tv shows, graphic novels or other media based on it? What do you think it’s about?

I hit so fast it felt like I landed everywhere at once—feet, a**, head.

The last thing I remember was hearing the crunching of bones in my arm and my legs. And that was it.

I was done.

About :

Gideon Blake boarded a plane for Fort Benning the day he got his high school diploma. But during his training to become an army ranger, he died in a parachuting accident.

Then…he woke up. Impossibly, he’s soon healed, being pursued by monsters and falling in love with a mysterious girl—a girl who refuses to tell him what the heck is going on.

But he finds out soon enough: Gideon is War incarnate, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and he has to find the other three members of his team—Famine, Death and Conquest—before the bad guys do. Riders is ya fantasy written by Veronica Rossi and published February 16th 2016 by Tor Teen. Hardcover, 384 pages.

Thoughts :

Even before I realized that Dan Bittner was narrating the Riders audiobook (which is a huge bonus!), I was hooked by the premise: the four horsemen? Cool factor, amirite?

We start out the story in an interrogation room—after all the action has occurred. A disbelieving, top-secret investigator is interviewing Gideon Blake about said action in some kind of army bunker.

I’m in a small room with pine walls and floor boards. Even the trim is pine, so. Either I was eaten by a tree or I’m in a cabin.”

We quickly learn that the US military rescued Gideon and the other horsemen from some kind of epic failure in Denmark—and that some girl named “Daryn” elected to stay behind. Which upset Gideon so much the army had to tranquilize the kid.

I think someone has a crush

So now, all Gideon wants is to get out of the restraints placed on him by the military, but first he must tell them his story. We learn the details as gradually as the military listeners do.

If you’re starting to hanker after the plot details, trust me, I understand! That’s a feeling I had to get used to during the course of the story. The plot mainly consists of finding the other horsemen (three of whom end up being Americans, which is kind of funny, but they end up traveling to a few different countries anyway) and, in the very end, facing the monsters they’ve been “incarnated” to battle. We do get glimpses of the future conflict in the apocalyptic touches, such as the monsters themselves, the super weapons belonging to the four horsemen and—the coolest speculative element—the supernatural horses featured on the covers of books I and II. But the mysterious Daryn keeps many secrets of their incarnation and missions to herself.

So the conflict comes mainly from the story structure of Gideon’s interview, which is a genius mode of storytelling for Veronica Rossi. Her greatest strength as a writer (imo, of course) is her character voice. Gideon’s voice, ah! I just love it so much. If you’ve read Veronica Rossi before, you probably know about her way with characters. In Riders, she enriches the YA genre in one very specific way. To explain:

If there’s one cringe-worthy commonality in YA fiction, it’s the girly guys. Seriously, where are all the macho males? I married a manly man and he’s definitely worth knowing and representing in YA fiction. Give me confidence! Swagger! Muscles! Convictions! Loudmouths! Anger issues! I would love to see more testosterone in YA, and I think other genre readers would, too.

So I thoroughly enjoyed Rossi’s extremely successful macho male perspective. Two of the four horsemen have serious aggression issues (War and Death, which somehow doesn’t surprise me!) and it’s interesting to watch them battle things out. Gideon turns into a jealous jerk, at times, but it’s a plausible character fault to go along with his strong leadership tendencies and smart mouth (not to mention his age and circumstances).

Gideon is also completely sassy and hilarious in a very character-specific way.

Her navy-blue suit looks expensive and she has a Ph.D kind of vibe, like she knows everything about something. And wrote a book about it. A civilian. I’d bet anything.”

Now does that scream soldier boy or what?

And the audio narrator! Dan Bittner stole my soul!! He saved Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver trilogy, for me, by basically BECOMING Cole St. Clair—but this. This is magnificent! Rossi’s and Bittner’s talents really bring Gideon alive, in the Riders audiobook. Bittner seems to go for the voice-driven authors and I’m so glad he does because he rocks their work.

Overall :

I loved this sooo much, it’s exactly my kind of thing, even though there’s little plot involved; most of it is “series set up” and character development. In that sense, it reminds me of Extracted by RR Hayward, which is also a book about “setting up the crew”; but Riders is much funnier and I loved Rossi’s characters far more than Hayward’s.

Recommended To :

I think Riders will be best enjoyed by audiences who look for strong character voice (especially humor) and character-driven narratives over strong plotting. The speculative element, while present, is minimal beyond the obvious “four horsemen” thing. It’s possible that the series as a whole has a fabulous plot; but book II doesn’t come out until next month, so we’ll have to wait and see And, of course, I highly recommend the audiobook, although I’m sure the regular book is just as fabulous….

****4/5 STARS

The opinions I share are completely my own and in no way compensated for by publishers or authors.

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that was hosted by Breaking the Spine to spotlight exciting upcoming titles.

Kristin Cashore’s award-winning Graceling realm YA High Fantasies were a staple of my high school reading. Cashore is know for her strong female heroines and attention to detail. She finishes a book only every few years–her last was in 2012, Bitterblue, an award-winning companion to her other Graceling realm novels–and they’re always works of art.

Goodreads Summary

Jane has lived an ordinary life, raised by her aunt Magnolia—an adjunct professor and deep sea photographer. Jane counted on Magnolia to make the world feel expansive and to turn life into an adventure. But Aunt Magnolia was lost a few months ago in Antarctica on one of her expeditions.

Now, with no direction, a year out of high school, and obsessed with making umbrellas that look like her own dreams (but mostly just mourning her aunt), she is easily swept away by Kiran Thrash—a glamorous, capricious acquaintance who shows up and asks Jane to accompany her to a gala at her family’s island mansion called Tu Reviens.

Jane remembers her aunt telling her: “If anyone ever invites to you to Tu Reviens, promise me that you’ll go.” With nothing but a trunkful of umbrella parts to her name, Jane ventures out to the Thrash estate. Then her story takes a turn, or rather, five turns. What Jane doesn’t know is that Tu Reviens will offer her choices that can ultimately determine the course of her untethered life. But at Tu Reviens, every choice comes with a reward, or a price. Jane, Unlimited is ya sci-fi authored by Kristin Cashore and expected to be published September 19th 2017 by Kathy Dawson Books.

The Collapsing Empire is the first in a new space opera series from well-known sci-fi genius John Scalzi, and I’m happy to say that it was a totally fun “first Scalzi” for me!

Thoughts :

By the time I got to sit down with The Collapsing Empire, I’d read enough reviews to understand the main points of the worldbuilding—but even if I hadn’t, Scalzi manages a certain breezy, entertaining way of explaining the impossible. He thunks readers into the middle of a mutiny and interrupts it with the even more drastic problem that the rest of the universe will have to face during the novel: the collapse of the only known method of space travel. The mutinous crew has to deal with the issue right then, or die.

Blamo! Sufficient explanation for the next several chapters without any painful info dumps.

That easy understanding is important, since the really absorbing puzzle of the book turns out to be tracking character agendas that will involve all this delicious worldbuilding.

Here’s a quick summary of said worldbuilding:

Space-age humanity has discovered a unique means of travel across huge stretches of the universe: the Flow. The Flow is an extra-dimensional field that transports spacecraft across distances that would otherwise be impossible, without fast-than-light space travel; naturally, humanity took advantage, using the Flow to build up an empire known as “The Interdependency”—interdependent because each settlement along the flow relies on each other’s resources to survive. But what happens to the Interdependency when the Flow begins to collapse, isolating each individual and dependent member of the body from each other?

That’s the question Scalzi’s cast is determined to answer. Several of the power players aim to profit from the misfortune and others just want to save lives. The major players all come from rich noble houses, overseen by a powerful “emperox.” (Yes, with the rise of the Interdependency came also the return of a caste system, and we learn later about its origins. It’s pretty disturbing. [Highlight to view SPOILER:Monopolies corrupted the government who anesthetized the common man with bunk religion and accepted the proceeds of $ and power without a blink. These elements seem a common enough in sci-fi backstories, which is understandable. Big companies, big government and organized religion all hold a lot of control over the common man, so when they get in bed, bad things happen…]) We meet the faces of three of these houses: the emperox of the universe from the most powerful House of Wu; the shipping queen of the entrepreneurial House of Lagos; and the three power-grabbing siblings of competitive House of Nohamapetan.

We enter the story just prior to the death of the current emperox—and just following the death of that emperox’s heir. This unfortunate double-dip of death leaves Cardenia, the emperox’s unprepared second child, in charge of the universe. Cardenia’s scenes largely consist of info dumps which, though humorous and easily digestible, usually left me eager to get back to the other two houses.

In contrast, Lady Kiva Lagos kept me in fits of mirth throughout the book; this mercantile heroine always manages to swing a profit despite House Nohamapetan’s threats to her product. I thoroughly enjoyed her clever machinations during this first power drama of the Flow’s collapse.

House Nohamapetan’s representatives—three siblings of differing personalities, but one overarching goal of enriching and empowering their house—prove no less enterprising. I almost found myself respecting these proactive backstabbers. Almost. There’s so competent, they even keep lady Kiva on her toes.

All of the female characters, excepting slightly the emperox, do seem to have shades of the exact same personality, which is slightly uninteresting. (One character quirk that most reviewers mention is Lady Kiva’s singular and somewhat repetitive talent for transposing the f-bomb to every purpose. Complimenting someone by saying “She’s smart as ****” or telling her mother “I ****ing love you” are some of the less clever examples of said habit Lol.) But every character has strong motivations that keep things moving along quite nicely, and their motivations clearly mark them out from one another.

Overall :

I really enjoyed The Collapsing Empire. Despite missing the character connections that would make it more meaningful to a character-driven reader like me, I love the political games and the unique setting and I’m totally game for book II. I can’t wait to see how the conflict plays out!

Recommended To :

Although I’m less familiar with sci-fi as some reviewers, I can confidently say that The Collapsing Empire is a rare example of extremely fast-paced and entertaining sci-fi, so I highly recommend it to readers looking for that sort of ride.

Characters: 2.5/5
Plot: 4.5/5
Setting: 4.5/5
Writing: 4/5

****4/5 STARS

The Collapsing Empire is adult sci-fi authored by John Scalzi and published March 21st 2017 by Tor Books. 336 pages. The opinions I share are completely my own and in no way compensated for by publishers or authors.